Supreme Court rejects plea against 2018 SC/ST Act amendment restoring bail bar

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant said a three-judge bench had already laid down safeguards in the Prathviraj Chauhan case in 2020 and declined to entertain the petition filed as a public interest litigation (PIL).

“Sufficient safeguards have been laid down by a decision of the three-judge bench in Prathviraj Chauhan case (2020). We are not interested in entertaining this petition which is purportedly in public interest,” the bench said. This case had challenged sections 18 and 18A of the Act which denied anticipatory bail and required no prior enquiry to be conducted by the police before registering FIR. This judgment laid down the safeguards that where the complaint under the Act does not make out a prima facie case, in such cases the bar under sections 18 and 18A shall not apply.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by 19 people led by Brijbhushan Saini, who claimed to be victims of allegedly false prosecutions under the Act.